Galway Yoga — Mindful Eating. Photo by Anna King

It doesn’t matter how much you exercise, or what kind of healthy food you eat - many diets undertaken for weight related issues (or conditions such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome), fail because they don't address how stress can trigger an unhealthy relationship with food and exacerbate physical ‘dis-ease’ in the body.

This guide will explain how chronic stress can be as toxic as fast food and how mindfulness (as part of a healthy eating plan) can help you navigate a more sustainable journey toward achieving a healthy weight, as well as reducing stress related disorders.

Re-set your compass with a mindful approach to eating.

Food really has become a complex issue. Unhealthy lifestyle choices, such as over indulgence or eating foods low in nutrition and vitality can result in intense energy drain, a compromised immune system, digestive disorders, feelings of frustration, poor self image, despair, isolation and lashings of self-criticism.

So, how do we develop a more holistic relationship with food?

While it is understandable that people bounce from one diet to another, there are more integrated approaches to explore.

But first, it’s important that we understand how stress makes it harder to make those life-enhancing food choices!

Making any transition in life is not a simple process. Diets in particular are riddled with complexity. It’s an industry littered with people who ‘succeed’ for a short period of time, only to bounce back to unhealthy lifestyle choices fairly swiftly. One of the reasons for this is that we have a tendency to focus upon calorie counting, yo-yo diets and short-term results-based programmes without addressing stress triggers.

While introducing healthier foods into your diet is the essential prerequisite to achieving health and wellbeing, dealing with chronic stress is equally important.

The key to achieving a healthy relationship with food:

# 1 Understand how emotional and psychological stress affects your relationship with food. From awareness change evolves.

# 2 Be fully present when you eat.

# 3 Introduce a daily (regular) practice that helps you to intercept and let go of emotional and mental stress, strengthen your ability to commit to healthier lifestyle choices, and re-balance your body’s ability to restore vitality and well-being.

# 4 Acceptance: practice the art of self-love. Release judgement.

# 5 (Re)discover the joy of eating, food sourcing and preparation. Love your food!

So, let’s take a look at #1 before we consider all the other points.

Juggling volatile business environments, families and relationships, as well as trying to make sense of conflicting health-care advice - can sometimes get overwhelming. Indeed stress has become one of our biggest 21st Century health challenges.

THE GOOD NEWS:

If we understand a little bit of the mechanics of stress, we can stop its debilitating hold on us, almost instantly.

This is KEY:

Normal stress is a state during which physiological changes occur in order to enable the body to perform its functions for survival in the world.

This is a good thing!

Over short periods of time stress reactions can be productive, for instance the bodily changes that take place before a competition or exam can release the necessary chemicals and hormones to propel us into motion and focus our minds.

But NOT all the time!

If, however, the adrenaline rush that is associated with stress is sustained over long periods, the body responds as if under a constant state of alarm (threat), which will eventually cause significant changes in our biochemistry, lead to a depletion of vital energy, and predispose us to a catalogue of health challenges.

It is well documented that people suffering from stress tend to gain weight. One of the reasons for this is because levels of 'stress hormones’ rise during tension-filled times, resulting in higher insulin levels, blood sugar fluctuations and a tendency to crave sugary, fatty foods.

Research is now suggesting that prolonged stress has a considerable impact upon the development of many illnesses, including: cardiovascular disease, cancer, endocrine and metabolic disease and skin disorders. It can inhibit digestion, increase muscular tension, and compromise our immune system (predisposing the body to infection). Stress also has a major effect on our psychology and it can be responsible for (or exacerbate) a lot of back problems, fatigue, chronic headaches, irritability, memory loss, lowered sexual drive, and insomnia… Okay, don’t panic - there is a considerable amount you can do to manage stress.

A mindful approach to reducing stress:

People intuitively know that they need to take ‘time out’ to reduce stress. Unfortunately, we have marginalised these experiences to the once a year holiday – or if lucky a Sunday morning nap in bed. The problem is - this isn’t enough; especially if you are experiencing daily work-life pressures. What we need is a regular go-to mindfulness practice that enables us to rest, reset and release pent up stress.

Regularly practicing mindfulness can have a significant impact upon our health and well-being.
It can calm and focus the mind, sooth the nervous system and improve digestion.
Mindfulness improves our ability to digest food and assimilate nutrients.
Over time it can help reduce the hormone and blood sugar imbalances associated with weight gain.
A regular practice can also ‘unlock’ confidence and inspire a renewed sense of purpose.

Mindful Eating Guide

How do we develop a mindful relationship with food?

Mindfulness refers to the awareness that emerges by paying attention, on purpose, non-judgmentally to the present moment.
— Jon Kabat-Zinn.

Mindful eating is the practice of being present as you eat. It’s about giving full attention to the quality, taste, smell, look of the food, and to how it makes you feel.

Mindful eating helps us to be in the present moment. This means that we are not reacting to distractions, or thinking about other things. When we are consciously eating, we are more connected to our instincts; such as feeling full, or if something doesn’t taste right. Over time, such experiences will develop our intuition, which will help break the yo-yo binge–fasting cycle that so many dieters tend to fall into. Mindful eating is also a great tool to help people manage common digestive problems such as IBS.

Experiencing food with all our senses is an opportunity to take time out from the chaos. We are all so speedy these days! As we juggle responsibilities we often feel that we don’t have time for self-care. Mindful eating is a simple and easy way to integrate little rituals into our daily lives that (over time) will have a profound affect upon our well-being.

There are simple little things we can do to support a mindful approach to eating:

Nature Inspired Styling At Our Retreats. Jennifer Slattery Linen. Photo by Anna King

1/ Mindful eating helps us to enjoy different colours, texture and scents.

Include plenty of variety in your meals to make the experience more enjoyable. Consider which colours you prefer, and the aromas that stimulate a sense of calm. Experiment with different colours and textures, not just the food itself, but with styling flowers, or decorations foraged from nature.

2/ Mindful eating starts with food sourcing and preparation.

Spend quality time preparing your food in a calm environment. Equally, eat in a room that you know elicits a sense of well-being (see my mindful interior prints).

Rekindle a love of food, rather than being immersed in the fear of eating the wrong thing!

3/ One of my favourite healthy habits is to buy food from people I like, or local markets where you can feel that the people selling their produce are passionate about the quality of their food. Having a pleasurable shopping experience for fresh food is a sheer delight. Try vegetables that you may not be familiar with. Chat to other people in the market about how to cook.

Experiment with life - not just your eating!

Conviviality, laughter and enjoyable conversations will help you develop a more meaningful relationship with the food you are buying.

MAKE YOUR MEAL-TIME SPECIAL.

Table Display by Anna King. Flowers from Abbey Florist.

4/ The master key to mindful eating is to understand why you are eating. Take some time to consider how your body feels and to establish the purpose of eating. For instance, some people crave food when they are actually just dehydrated.

Pause before you eat… Ask yourself why are you eating?

Once you have connected to your motivation, then practice the art of letting go.

Pause again before you eat and reflect once again upon shifting emotions within your body. You may chose to eat something else, wait a while - or continue with your meal.

Taking time before you eat to reflect is a very powerful tool to help you reconnect with yourself. This will help you consider if you are emotionally eating due to an outside pressure or feeling (such as loneliness or boredom), or indeed - if you are actually hungry.

While it’s difficult to change ingrained patterns of thinking - or strong emotional feelings overnight, mindfulness enables us to ‘step-back’ and be less reactive.

Spending time before we eat just connecting into all bodily sensations through a body scan and / or grounding techniques really helps people begin to appreciate their emotional and physical needs better.

Eat with joy and be kind to yourself.

Mindful eating will help restore a healthy relationship with food because it can heal your relationship with yourself. It does this by introducing the power of acceptance.

This part of the puzzle is crucial.

Accepting yourself - as you are now - with all the things you love about yourself and the things you don’t - is an essential part of the journey. Overtime mindfulness stimulates a sense of awe and joy that is difficult to describe, but non-the-less a very powerful antidote to daily stress triggers.

However, it does takes time and practice.

5/ The secret to good nutrition and digestion is chewing.

Chew each bite thoroughly and savour it. If you find that you are rushing your food, the likelihood is that you are not fully in the moment – that you are thinking about something else, or in denial of why you are eating. Return to your mindful practice of being in the moment.

Chewing also enhances the taste, texture and quality of the food. Chewing will also slow your mealtime down, with the desired result of helping you to become more aware of the sensation of being full. Eating slowly generally leads to eating less, naturally - as well as better digestion and assimilation.

Pause again before you reach for another serving, or for the next course.

It takes your brain approximately twenty minutes to receive the signal from your gut that you are full. Hence, why we should slow down and take a break between courses.

6/ Replace oral satisfaction with a cup of herbal tea. Create your own mindfulness tea ceremony. It is possible to buy (or make your own) extremely tasty herbal teas that can really feel like a treat. Develop your own tea ceremony with a lovely tea pot, fresh herbs and a few words of wisdom crafted with 'you' in mind, will makes all the difference to your day! These healthy little treats really send positive messages to the brain, thus stimulating all those healthy bodily responses that improve overall wellbeing.

7/ Journaling

Some nutritionists recommend writing a food journal to establish a craving profile. This can be really useful as it also helps you become more aware of volatile mood changes that may affect your eating patterns, as well as changes in your daily energy patterns (remember - change evolves naturally with awareness). Journaling is also really helpful for people who are new to mindfulness. Plot your experience over a few weeks and write down any challenges, as well as insights that were particularly illuminating.

8/ Mindful eating in nature

I believe that one of the most powerful healing tools we have at our disposal is our ability to connect with natures healing energy and vitality.

Mindful eating in nature stimulates our bodies natural capacity to heal and rebalance.

According to scientific research compiled by Florence William, within five minutes of being in nature your body and brain start to change. Williams states that the smell of pine trees can strengthen your immune system and that birdsong increases alpha brain waves, thus stimulating feelings of calmness, as well as improving productivity, creativity and mood.

These kinds of experiences stimulate the same healthy response in the body as mindful eating. So, my last suggestion to you all is to take every opportunity you can to practice mindful eating outside: cook outside, picnic, take packed lunches in parks, or just sip your herbal tea mindfully under a tree.

You will be astonished by the results!

Mindful Eating